almost immediately." in addition a second $1.4 trillion would be tied in to a congressional committee that would then suggest deficit cuts. if the panel did not act or if congress rejected those recommendations, some automatic spending cuts would be triggered that could affect medicare and defense spending. these are some of the outlines of a compromise. more norks -- negotiations continue. .

>> representative candidate mccotter talks about it debt and deficit in congress and the state of the u.s. economy. that is the 6:30 p.m. -- that is at 6:30 p.m. >> that figure is removing the veil of ignorance from human understanding. that is an american invention, but it is sort of classical for what it really is all about. >> keep you missed the spans latest documentary, "the library

of congress," there is a preview right now on c-span's youtube channel. watch the entire documentary and hundreds of other timely videos online at youtube dot com/-- youtube.com/c-span. every morning, "washington journal," our live call-in program. weekdays, watts live coverage of the house, in weeknights, congressional hearings and policy forums. also, supreme court oral arguments. on the weekends, you can see our signature interview programs. you can also watch our programming any time that -- at c-span.org, and it is all searchable.

>> that is i oppose a republican governor, terry branstad, on your screen right now -- that is iowa's governor. thanks for being here. let me introduce our two questioners. dan has covered politics for a long time with the "washington post." dan, we start with you. >> thank you. welcome. washington is consumed right now with the debate over what to do about raising the debt ceiling. i wonder what the consequences are for your stated this deadline of tuesday is not met. them a first and foremost, i guess i would say that i, like governors all across the country, have made the tough decisions and balanced our state budget. i inherited a real financial mess when i was elected last

year. we came to office with a plan to get our finances in order and spend less than we take in, and we went through a long and tough session, but we got that accomplished. we passed a two-year budget for the first time in a long time, and we have projected out to five years that we have a balanced budget, spending less than we spent last year, spending less than we take in each year. the federal government has for many years been spending way more than it is taking in. i think only 60 cents of every dollar is actually coming from revenue, and the rest is borrowed. that is a recipe for disaster, and, obviously, that needs to change. we think what the states have been doing makes a lot more sense, and the federal government needs to put together a plan that will dramatically reduce this debt, and not just extend the debt ceiling, but actually put us on a path to restoring fiscal responsibility in our nation. >> that would take the votes of

both republicans and democrats, given the difference of power in the house and senate. again, where the consequences for your state and other states if this does not get done by tuesday? >> we do not know exactly what the consequences are. first of all, i do not think scare tactics make a lot of sense. i think we need to work together to resolve these issues. when the state of iowa was facing a potential shutdown, i said we would do whatever we can to try to provide services as best we can. fortunately, the legislature came through and ended up reaching a budget. i have a split legislature just like the congress is split. i had a republican house and democratic-controlled senate. it was not an easy process, but we got the job done. it was close to the deadline, but it was accomplished. i expect the president and congress to resolve this as well. >> let me ask just one more question -- do you think that the tea party conservatives in

the house have been to on willing to compromise? >> i think the people that were elected in 2010 came in with a real message from the voters, and that is that we need to dramatically change washington. we cannot continue business as usual. we cannot spend a dollar for every 60 cents that comes in in revenue. i think they have come in with a real message from their constituents and feel strongly that things need to change. they sought a democratic congress, and before that a republican congress, both of which spend way more than was being taken in. especially after obama became president, we had all these bailouts and all this spending. especially the health care plan. people can see this is not affordable. it is not sustainable. we need to change directions in this country. >> in that case, do you think they should continue to hold out

for the terms they have been asking us for, even if it pushes us back past tuesday? >> i do not know the details of all the plans in washington, d.c. i just know if you look around the country, you look at the state's, they got things on the right track. a bunch of new governors elected in 2010 have been reducing the size and cost of government and putting state governments on a path of sustainability. that is what needs to happen in washington, d.c., as well. >> i want to talk a little bit about the big month coming up in iowa in august. there's a lot going on in the gop primary. kenya handicap the race for us, and specifically handicap the straw poll, as you see it now, a couple of weeks out? >> first of all, it is a very fluid situation. last time, romney won the strong

pull, but the iowa caucus was won by huckabee. things are wide open, and romney is not competing. he is the national front runner, but not competing. so you have a wide open situation. congressman michele bachmann was born and raised in iowa. i think she got off to a good start. governor pawlenty, although we has not done well in the polls, may surprise people. he may do better than expected. also, ron paul is going to be competitive in this. herman cain. rick santorum. recently, rick perry. although he is not on the ballot, there is an effort to get right-in votes for him --

write-in votes for him. again, the straw poll is not the caucus. i expect it will be an open and fluid situation, and obviously, people will do better than expectations. could give them a real boost for the iowa caucuses and the subsequent primaries and caucuses in other states. >> can you give us a sense about the history of the straw poll in? do you think that in recent years, its impact on the race at large has been diminished? >> actually, i think it has grown in its influence. more people participate, and it has been a nice fund-raiser for the republican party in the state of iowa. yet, i think we need to look at it realistically. this is not a scientific survey. it is an early test of organization. it is sometimes not who wins it

but who exceeds expectations. last time, a lot of people thought that then senator brownback, who is now the governor of kansas, would do well, actually, what happened is governor huckabee beat him, gave a surprisingly strong second, and ended up defeating romney in the caucasus. i think romney is trying to keep expectations low. he is not participating, but he is the national leader and intends to participate in the caucasus. i think we have a wide open situation. ireland's -- ireland -- iowans like to meet the candidates and get their vision for where they want to lead the nation, but i do not think you should just

assume whoever does well in the straw poll necessarily will win the iowa caucus or the nomination. >> could the opposite be true? >> it is whoever exceeds expectations. if you have somebody not expected to do well that does well, that could give them some real momentum, and you have several months between the straw poll and win the caucuses are held. >> governor, you know that state better than almost anyone else in the country -- >> i 112 elections in iowa -- i iowa -- i won 12 elections. >> who would you say has a better organization in iowa? governor pawlenty or bachmann?

>> bachmann did well in the polls. her announcement went over well. and she is a native iowan. but i think pawlenty may surprise some people. he has a lot of key people involved in this campaign. he is aggressively campaigning throughout the state. it is interesting. you have two minnesota is competing, but they are not the only ones. you need to look at herman cain, who has a following here, and ron paul, and rick santorum says he will be people's expectations. who knows what rick perry's efforts may produce? it looks like he will get in the race after the straw poll, so it

could be a wide open situation. renault's? there may be others that i have not even mention that could do better than expected. >> i wonder how you would assess governor harry -- perry's ability to campaign in iowa. >> remember, george de b. bush, who was the governor of texas at the time, won both the straw poll and the iowa caucuses and went on to be elected president of united states twice. being governor of a big state like texas is successful in economic development. harry -- perry also has a following among economic and social conservatives, so he has the potential to appeal to a broad base of republican caucus goers. >> do you think if he were to get into the race, he would be in competition to win the caucuses? >> it is hard to say.

it all depends upon how much time he spends in iowa, how good an organization he puts together, and what kind of vision he is able to show where he would leave the country -- lead the country. >> with rick perry getting into the caucus, doesn't it romney need to rethink where he is setting? >> it is my and standing that his strategy this time is not to spend a lot of time and money here early in the straw poll, but instead but his focus on -- he is going to participate in the debate, and he intends to compete in the caucasus, and i think he recognizes you cannot be a national front runner and not compete in the first state. >> governor perry would come in on the right flank of the republican party. he is a conservative. many candidates in iowa are conservative and going after the same part of social conservative

voters who formed the base of the gop electorate in iowa. could there be a situation of splitting that vote and paving the way for someone like romney or someone liked huntsman who says he will not compete, but also has a few moderate positions to come in and when? >> in that with governor huntsman in salt lake city and suggested he rethink his position -- in net with governor huntsman. whoever does well in iowa either wins the caucasus or a surprisingly strong second, it will be them versus romney in new hampshire, and everyone else will not be considered. you know the way it works. -- i met with governor huntsman. i think he is making a strategic mistake.

i suggested he take another look at it and recognize the ethanol is not the main issue in iowa and more. corn prices are good, and we anticipate that we will see a phase out of the subsidies on ethanol, and we are strong supporters of renewable fuel, but that is not the deciding issue that he said why he would not compete in iowa. so i think it is a mistake not to compete here. certainly, governor perry also has a position that has been basically anti-ethanol, and that is an issue he will have to deal with if he competes in iowa, and i think he will have to do that. >> you have said you plan to remain neutral in the race for the foreseeable future. on the other hand, you have made clear he think that the kind of experience that governors have qualifies them to be presidents in ways that people who do not have that may not be qualified.

that was taken as criticism of congresswoman bachmann. do you think she lacks the experience to be a good president? >> first of all, i did not say that as criticism of anybody. i really wanted to say that my observation and experience is that the best presidents -- i am and ronald reagan admirer. i was an early supporter. he was governor of california before he became president. if you look at american history, a lot of our best presidents came from the ranks of the governors. unlike the united states senator or congressman who was in the legislative branch of government, they are in the executive branch, so i think that is an advantage. congresswoman bachmann is a tax attorney and understands finances. our country is in dire straits because it has been mismanaged for way too long. i think she has some good ideas. i also think that she is a very

attractive, articulate, energetic candidate and has been able to generate a lot of interest and enthusiasm among tea party people but also among other voters as well. >> as you know, governor palin announced that she would attend an event in early september in your state. do you think it is too early for her to mount a campaign in iowa? >> i do not know that it is too late. it is getting late. this time, it has kind of developed later than normal as well. with governor palin, you never know. she is unconventional in the way she does things. she was here for the premiere of a movie recently. she endorsed me on twitter. i did not even know it was coming.

i have a lot of respect for her keeping her options open. i'm not sure what she will do. she had not given me any insight information. >> can a candidate run an unconventional campaign in iowa and win? >> that is a good question. the conventional wisdom is you want to spend a lot of time here, build a strong organization, and that is kind of the way i won the governor's races in iowa, and the advice i have given candidates is come to iowa often, tried to get to all 99 counties, meet with people, share your vision, answer questions, and that is the way i think they should do it. i do not think you can do it by just doing a few rallies in the state. if she decides to become a candidate, i think she needs to come here and spend a significant amount of time. it goes way back to 1980.

ronald reagan lost to george h. w. bush in iowa because he and his family went to virtually every county and the man running reagan's campaign thought they could do it with one rally per congressional district. he would not return my phone calls. i was trying to tell him it was a bad strategy. of course, what they did was they went to new hampshire and did exactly what they should have done in iowa. that is when i knew that ronald reagan had not lost the touch. he knew what he was doing. they just blew it in iowa. >> i want to talk about the impact of ron paul in this race. for your years ago, he was seen by many as kind of the guy talking about issues that people necessarily were not

focused on, but this time it seems the issue matrix points more towards him with the economy and the debt ceiling. what is his level of strength there? have you been able to gauge what is impact will be? he said he would aim to win the straw poll. can he? can he win the caucuses? >> that is a good question. he does have an ardent group of supporters. he could surprise some people here in the state of iowa. i guess i question whether he is likely to win the caucuses, but i think he could do better than he did four years ago, and a thing considering the financial problems of the country then, he has been warning about the way things have been operating in washington, d.c., for a long time. i think a lot of people are saying he has been right, and we certainly need to change course and direction. i think you will see a certain level of strength, but there is

also a lot of candidates to choose from. some of his stance on other things, his libertarian positions on things like legalizing marijuana and stuff like that, do not sit well with a lot of conservatives in the state. >> there have been a number of books, including some republicans, who have been critical of the iowa caucuses, saying that they are not a fair test for a mainstream conservative, that they are too heavily dominated by one part of the party, the most conservative part of the party. do you worry that over time, iowa's influence in the process could be diminished if it is not regarded as a fair test? >> first and foremost, those people skeptical about iowa providing a fair test, i would point out my primary election last year. i got in the race late. there were people that were identified with the very

evangelical social wing of the party, and, yet, i was able to put an organization together and win a decisive victory in a three-way race, getting over 50% of the vote, going on not only to defeat -- the first time an incumbent governor had been defeated in iowa since 1962. i guess my feeling is i believe that there is a broad base of republicans that voted for either romney or huckabee that are up for grabs this time, and i think as a candidate, it is a mistake to miss an opportunity for this very crucial first test. all you have to do is talk to rudy guiliani. his strategy was a disaster because he skipped iowa and new hampshire, and be -- by the time it got to the states he was going to focus on like florida, essentially, he was out of the

picture. >> in your case, you were competing in a primary last year, not a caucus, and the caucuses are a different breed of tests. the people are saying it is not a question of whether the iowa republican party as a whole is representative, but whether the caucuses are too dominated by the social and religious conservatives. >> i think the caucuses, it depends on the year. i remember when bob dole won handily in this state. i think it all depends upon the personality of the candidate, the kind of organization they put together, and i do not think we should rule out the possibility that an economic conservative could not win. i think it depends on the quality of the candidate and how effectively they are at getting the message across, what kind of organization they are, and there is a difference between the primary and caucus in that in

the primary election, you can vote absentee ballot, and the polls are open all day, and in the polls, it is in the winter, it is dark. but nevertheless -- and we saw this on the democratic side four years ago -- obama brought a whole lot of new people in, surprised everybody, and defeated hillary clinton. if you get the right kind of candidate, with no contest on the democratic side, they could appeal to a lot of independents, and decide to join the republicans, go to the caucuses, and do much better than expected. i just think that people are trying to pigeonhole the iowa caucuses as being unrepresentative, and need to know the state a little better. i have seen how these things can change. i think conventional wisdom last time was you could not have the kind of turn out that obama generated in iowa, and i would like to see the republicans do the same thing this time.

>> we have three questions left. >> governor, this is yet another cycle in which i oppose the -- i know what -- iowa's stature of kicking off the caucasus is under siege. more states are considering moving there's earlier in the year. can you guarantee that the iowa caucuses will be held in 2012? >> 2012 or 2011 -- >> that is what i mean. >> they will be held, and they will be first, and i think both parties agree on that. we do not want to lose our status as the first in the nation caucuses. both republicans and democrats are strongly committed to maintaining that position. we have to move our caucuses up, we are certainly ready and willing to do that. >> sounds like we all better make reservations for new year's eve in des moines.

>> you are welcome to come for christmas, new year's, all other holidays as well. >> my last question goes back to the straw poll. if you were betting today, who would win? >> i am not a betting man to begin with. i think it is a wide open situation to begin with. i really do not want to make a prediction of who will win, and a lot could depend upon what happens now. whoever goes into that with some momentum and has the kind of organization could surprise some people, just like last time. remember, the straw poll was won by romney hromney huckabee exceeded expectations -- but huckabee exceeded expectations. >> governor, thank you for being with us today. we will see you in august, and

we might see in november, december -- >> come early and often. >> let me turn to our guests for your perspective. what are you learning about the appeal to iowa voters on the gop side this year? >> i think the most important issues there are the same ones that are important to the rest of the country -- jobs and the economy. and for republicans, it is the size and role of government and the need to cut spending, so economic issues, i think, are more dominant, and i think it is big economic issues, not particularly iowa-centric economic issues. >> where our social conservatives in this? >> i think the size of the government. there are talks of social conservatives seeing this as a moral issue.

they are tying the economic issue back to morality. i think you do have single issue voters in iowa and conservatives, evangelicals focused on what we would call wage issues, right? but at the same time, i think the economy is so dominating right now that those issues are taking a back seat, not just in iowa, but across the country. >> interested in the governor's conversation about his formula for success, visit all 99 counties. we heard about sarah palin's twitter endorsement, and i worry whether we're not -- whether we might not see a situation where new technologies might up in the old formula. >> there's a belief in the cycle that there are some opportunities to do things in terms of organizing voters and touching different voters that you can do through social networking that in the past, you had to do only by being on t